1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to injectors and nozzles, and more particularly to nozzles and injectors such as used in fuel injection in gas turbine engines.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of devices and methods are known in the art for injecting fuel into gas turbine engines. Of such devices, many are directed to injecting fuel into combustors of gas turbine engines. Typical nozzles for fuel injectors incorporate swirlers to induce atomization on liquid fuel issued from the nozzle, as well as effect dispersion of the atomized droplets for good fuel/air mixing. The action of imparting swirl to a flow naturally results in a pressure-loss of the fluid passing through the swirler. This pressure-loss is exacerbated by the presence of flow-separations near the leading-edge of the vane (or entrance to the vaned passage). The pressure-loss which occurs due to the leading-edge flow separations is considered a parasitic loss of energy that could otherwise be used for atomization. Such flow separations also reduce the amount of air which can pass through the swirler passage for a given (fixed) amount of available pressure (pressure-drop through the swirler passage). There is an ongoing desire to reduce the pressure-loss and increase the amount of air flow through fuel nozzles in gas turbine engines.
Such conventional methods and systems have generally been considered satisfactory for their intended purpose. However, there is an ongoing need for swirlers with ever lower pressure loss. The present disclosure provides a solution for this need.